♪ on top of the world right now ♪ join for free and expect amazing. because it works. good morning. we are following two major stories. the economy on the edge. late reports of major progress overnight. secretary of state hillary clinton is hospitalized this morning getting treatment for a blood clot she developed as a result of a concussion earlier this month. we will have a full report coming up. but first the senate returns to work about an hour from now after talks stalled in the senate yesterday. minority leader mitch mcconnell called vice president biden in an effort to jump-start negotiations and there are reports of significant movement, giving some hope that some house

republicans will go along with the deal. >> i do believe there are at least two dozen who would vote for the kind of agreement we're hearing about being put together in the senate. >> the vice president and i have worked together on solutions before and i believe we can again. >> there are some indications on how they're getting a little closer to an agreement. when it comes to income tax hikes "the washington post" reports that democrats counter offer sets the threshold at $450,000 a year for taxes to go up. republicans are looking for $550,000. democrats are no longer insisting on raising the estate tax on the very wealthy. they will now agree apparently to an up or down vote. that was key for republicans. still, both sides remain far apart on extending unemployment benefits and on the sequester. of course that is when the steep automatic spending cuts would slash budgets at the pentagon and other government agencies. let's bring in "usa today" washington bureau chief susan page and "the washington post" congressional reporter ed

o'keefe. good morning to both of you and happy new year. >> good morning. >> same to you. >> the senate returns in about an hour. how close are they? what are you hearing? >> you know, i think it is conceivable that we'll have a new year's eve miracle and there will be a deal but i think the safe bet is against it. for this to happen in the next 14 hours you need to have no senator object to a majority vote, you know, any senator can start to filibuster and force the vote total up to 60 to continue working on any kind of deal they reach. and then you need john boehner to agree and house republicans to agree to bring it up in the same version or very similar version and i think the hurdles that have prevented us from getting a deal for two years are still there. so, i mean, we'll see what the next 14 hours brings but i wouldn't be too optimistic. >> if the senate does manage to hammer out a deal what are the chances the house will go along? you heard what chris van hollen said about an hour ago. >> note he said he thinks there

are about two dozen republicans. you'll need closer to 40 republicans at least to push this over the 218 threshold. the problem with that is as tom cole the republican in oklahoma told me yesterday, he said, look. where are you going to find 40 republican house members who are willing to vote for something? if eric cantor and john bainer and kevin mccarthy don't like it, who is going to buck leadership and vote with democrats on something like this? he said, if there is at least lukewarm support from republican leaders you're likely to see more than 40 house republicans vote for it and it should pass pretty easily. then of course there is the question of are there democrats, perhaps the more liberal members of their caucus, who don't like this either? because you're going to essentially need every single democrat to vote for this and many who have said they don't like this deal. >> that would bring us to what our mike viqueira calls the inertia scenario where they decide the best thing is to go over the fiscal cliff. the democrats for some of them from their perspective it is not a bad thing because they think they have the upper hand in

public opinion and also that it basically assures the elimination of bush tax cuts. on the republican side it does the same thing but then they can say, i didn't vote for a tax cut. un, they just expired. is there -- are there enough people there who really are willing to hold firm and let us go over the cliff? >> yes. i think clearly there are. one sign that people are trying to prepare the way for americans not to take it so seriously, after months of talking about the catastrophic consequences of going over the fiscal cliff, you see people now at the white house, on the hill, in both parties talking about it as a slope, not a cliff. that there will be a deal early in the new year if not one by new year's eve. so i think clearly both sides think it is now likely that we'll go over the cliff and that they want to argue it's not so catastrophic. in fact, as you say, especially for a liberal democrats they see some advantages to going over the cliff, blaming republicans and starting with kind of hitting the reset button when it comes to this debate. >> well, you had apparently

democrats giving in on the estate tax. yesterday we saw that the republicans withdrew their demands on social security but now you have i mean what is arguably a much more difficult negotiation which is over concessions on the sequester. you know, if this doesn't get done is that what the holdup is going to be? or is it just going to be a whole myriad of things? >> i think it would be a myriad of things but certainly a sequester is a concern for members of both parties. you know, the pro defense hawkish types of both parties who were concerned the sequester could really upend things at the pentagon and then those on the other side who say this is also going to have a huge effect on domestic spending. we might run into a situation at some point soon where there aren't enough air traffic controllers or food inspectors or park rangers, things that more democrats point out. republicans on the flip side say if the pentagon has to sit around and wait to determine when it can issue contracts and will it be able to, you know, set recruitment goals and deployment orders, those are big concerns and that is why i think if it is part of this deal you

may see some consternation but certainly discussion begin very quickly on how to patch those spending cuts and figure out a new way to cut the spending. >> all right. hold on. i want to bring in congressman jeff flake, republican from arizona, and soon-to-be senator in just a few days. good morning. thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me on. >> i don't need to tell you, time is quickly running out. how optimistic are you or pessimistic about a deal before midnight? >> you know, about 50/50 right now. i obviously would like to see a deal that would avoid the cliff, but it depends upon the content. i think the worst thing we can do is turn off the sequester or the automatic spending cuts. the real cliff will come if we fail to deal with our debt and deficit. we just can't do that. >> that -- >> i don't like the content of the sequester. i do think it inordinately hits defense but that is something we can negotiate once we get into the new year.

but to turn off those cuts would be just a frank admission we can't cut spending ever. i think the markets will respond very negatively to that and as well they should. >> you've also said republicans are resigned to seeing some sort of income tax hike. i wonder what is acceptable to you. we've heard 400,000, we've heard 450,000. is there a point at which it's a point of no return for you? >> well, my preference is to leave the rates where they are for everyone. we know that is not going to be the case. the president wouldn't sign such a bill. the democrats in the senate wouldn't pass it. so my goal is to pro-fekt tect y taxpayers as possible from higher tax rates. i don't know where that will be but the truth is that at midnight tonight taxes on everybody go up automatically, so i'll take a deal that can protect lower tax rates for any group. >> the argumentative' heard and i'm sure you have too is the way

the irs is building things and it won't have an immediate impact on the economy, the argument on the other side is that is not the case for 2.1 million people losing unemployment insurance. obviously it not only puts them in a very difficult position, that is billions of dollars not being funneled into the economy. we had a bad week last week on wall street. how concerned are you if this gets delayed? >> my concern is we turn off the spending cuts or do things like on the farm bill, the dairy cliff is now being talked about. that is a problem. but the solution being put out there, one of the solutions is to extend the farm bill for another year. that would be putting out about $5 billion in direct payments that many of the farmers don't even want. you know, just a completely indefensible program giving money to farmers for not farming basically. >> but you know, congressman, a lot of people are hearing this number. $8 a gallon for milk and it freaks them out. >> it does.

but we can do a fix specifically there without extending the whole program. i think what you'll see in the next couple days is whether congress is serious about curtailing spending and the real cliff again will come when the markets respond to our inability to cut spending. that's where it all is. assuming the president gets all that he wants on the revenue side, that is only about $82 billion next year. that's a drop in the bucket to our deficit problems. so the real issue is spending and we got to deal with it. >> my guess is you're hearing the same thing that i hear from people. whether they're friends or family or they're people that i just -- that see me in starbucks. that is, why can't they get this done? i can't tell you the number of people who have said to me if i had a deadline at work and i just ignored it, i'd lose my job. this was yesterday on the senate floor. >> something has gone terribly wrong when the biggest threat to

our american economy is our american congress. >> how did we get to this, congressman? he right? >> yes, he is. really it's the inability of congress to control spending. that is why we're in this pickle right now. we're spending $1.2 trillion more than we're taking in every year. and so he is completely right. i think people are right to see congress as dysfunctional. that's why we've got to deal with this today or tomorrow or the next day in a way that fixes this long term, not just gets us out of the pickle for one day. and that's my concern is that, you know, we'll finally discover bipartisanship and that bipartisanship is everybody turns their back while everybody spends money. and that's what we've done in the past and we just can't continue to do that in the future. >> congressman, soon to be senator, good to have you on the program. happy new year to you sir. >> thank you. >> so, susan, we've been telling

people since i went on the air last night that the congress is going to be back at 11:00. what happens then? >> at 11:00 we'll see if the overnight negotiations which have included vice president biden significantly have actually resulted in the kind of deal that could move forward. we talk about them having 14 hours and they don't really. they have a few more hours to reach a deal and get it moving down the procedural track. i think the congressman made an important point in saying that one of the real consequences isn't what happens immediately but the whole sense that washington cannot work. that even after this election we had in november, things haven't changed. and things just don't get done even at the last minute when everyone says it is very important to act. >> remember when this all came together the whole idea of the sequester and they said the consequences are so dire, so devastating there is no way we won't get a deal done.

>> well, yeah. that is about to happen. exactly. i think if we don't hear something by 2:00 this afternoon it is nail biting time and time to put on the parachutes and prepare to jump the cliff. beyond that it would be very difficult for the senate to get something done tonight and send it over to the house to get it started. you know, congressman soon to be senator flake lays out the complicated path forward here for members of both parties very well. he is concerned about the sequester. ah, but we can fix that later. he doesn't want to extend the farm bill that would stave off those milk prices but, you know, the farm state, lawmakers have been saying you can't extend these things temporarily. if you're going to do it for milk you might as well do it for everything else. to think we're down to 14 hours, maybe, you know, 34 hours if you count tomorrow, and they still haven't started up these incredibly complicated things it is a great demonstration of the fact this place remains so dead locked along partisan lines and just no real sense of how we break out of this because the conversations are only going to continue for weeks and months to

come. >> ed o'keefe, susan paige. good to see you both. >> thank you. >> happy new year. we want to update you on secretary of state hillary clinton being treated now at a new york hospital for a blood clot. joining me from new york presbyterian nbc's chief science and health correspondent robert bazell. what do we know this morning, bob? >> reporter: well, chris, since we've been talking about this last night we don't have a lot of information. we just have this one statement from secretary clinton's office and the hospital is not saying anything. a lot of doctors are telling me the information in that statement is a bit contradictory. here's why. they say that she has a blood clot that stemmed from a concussion she got several weeks ago. but the problem is, blood clots that stem from concussions don't usually get treated with blood thinning drugs which is what they say they're doing here. either she has a concussion someplace else that may not -- excuse me -- a blood clot someplace else that may not be related to the concussion or there is more to her health that

we don't know about. they say they're watching her closely for a couple days. we will have to continue to watch ourselves to see what the situation is but right now all we know is that she is in this hospital. she's under observation. we don't have any idea about what her condition is. and we're just watching and hoping for the best. chris? >> bob bazell, thanks so much. we'll be right back with congresswoman barbara lee. stay with us.

the senate is scheduled to get back to work and avoid the fiscal cliff 45 minutes from now. president obama will be watching with the rest of country for a deal to be hammered out. he thinks republican leaders need to bend. >> congress has not been able to get this stuff done not because democrats in congress don't want to go ahead and cooperate but because i think it's been very

hard for speaker boehner and republican leader mcconnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest americans should go up a little bit and as part of an overall deficit reduction package. >> i'm joined by congresswoman barbara lee a democrat from california. good to see you. good morning. >> good to see you. glad to be with you. >> let me give you the republican perspective. it is that some indications they are willing to give on taxes whether 400 or 450,000, that yesterday they floated this idea of changing social security. they've backed off on that. they apparently are willing to give on some of these estate taxes. the democrats are willing to give on some of the estate taxes. but what the republicans want is they say that this deal that's being offered looks like it actually puts us further in the hole. it's actually costing us more than it's saving us. tell us what your take is on where we are right now. >> well, first let me just say it's a shame and disgrace that we are where we are. the american people are fed up first of all with this process. secondly, with the priorities that are coming forward. one is what's happening now to

the 2 million people who have really fallen over this human cliff, who deserve an extension of their unemployment compensation? they want to work. where are they in this overall equation? secondly when you talk about cuts, you know, quite frankly the most vulnerable they've already paid an extreme price. they've been -- our senior citizens, the disabled, veterans, we've had over $1 trillion in cuts that have automatically taken place. and so when you talk now about moving forward with the deal, that does not at least put a suspension on sequestration, these huge budget cuts to our domestic program, and defense, then what are we talking about? we need to come together and come up with something that's real. the american people spoke quite frankly. elections have consequences. they want tax fairness. they want the wealthiest to pay their fair share. the most vulnerable, our senior citizens, our veterans. low income people, the middle class. we paid an extreme price and so

we have to come together and come up with some fairness in this overall deal. >> i don't know if you just heard congressman jeff flake, your counterpart from arizona, republican counterpart. you know, the concern they have is with putting off sequestration. you're just kicking the can down the road, just another indication congress is broken. we already know this is the least productive congress in history. something like 219 bills passed, at least 40 ins consequential, things like renaming post offices. can you just keep putting things off? at some point don't you have to deal with spending? >> we have to deal with spending and let me tell you when you look at the pentagon for example we could cut at least a hundred billion dollars and not even tamper with our national security. there are many ways to address spending. i serve on the appropriations committee with congressman flake. i understand exactly where he is going with this. when you talk about spending, who has paid, first of all,

there has been an unequal investment in the cuts already. defense has not taken any huge cuts. domestic programs have. and so, yes. we have to address spending. but you have to have all things being equal. so we have to take the time to do this. that's why i was very concerned last year when this whole debt ceiling debate took place and when in fact sequestration, the huge u. automatic cuts were put into place. i knew then that they would not be equal and now here we are and we have to come up with a solution that is going to protect the middle class. >> how do we move forward? senator coburn was talking this morning that we wouldn't be where we are if there was an open debate on the budget, in his case on the senate floor. let me play for you what he said. >> everything is done in a dark room, back room, not in the committee, not on the floor. and the reason we haven't achieved anything is that the process that was intended to work for our country doesn't

work anymore because we won't bring bills to the floor. >> is there a sense in congress, do you think he is right, that frankly, especially in this deal making going on right now, most of you are out of the game. you don't have a say in the negotiations until the end when you vote and the american people frankly don't know really what is going on? >> i have to tell you, this has been quite frankly a do nothing republican congress. it's been unbelievable in terms of the type of legislative program they have not put forward. we've had plenty of time to do the work of the american people. unfortunately, the tea party republicans were elected here. they're here and they want to really quite frankly dismantle government. i think that's what you have seen. you know, an effort by the far right, the tea party republicans, to obstruct and stop everything that we could move forward to, one, reduce the deficit, two, create jobs, three, protect medicare, social security, medicaid, and, four, to create the american dream for all. you've seen this obstructionist

congress do that. so, yes, we need a full debate so the american people can see who is where, who is doing what, who values the 98%, who supports oil subsidies for the oil companies versus who supports medicare and social security for our senior citizens, who supports investments in our job creation and infrastructure versus who supports continuing profits for the 1%. yeah, we need a full debate so the american people will see what is exactly taking place in congress. >> california congresswoman barbara lee, happy new year. thanks for coming on a. >> thank you. >> a deal has been reached to avert going over the so-called milk cliff but the threat of $8 a gallon milk is still looming. leaders in the house and senate agriculture committees have agreed to a one-year extension of the farm bill which expired in october but house republicans haven't signed off on the extension and no vote has been scheduled. no deal means the government goes back to an outdated pricing policy and milk prices could double. with lean cuisine? try our entrees, snacks and new salads.

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to politics now. when a new study concludes that the long lines on election day in florida discouraged 49,000 people from voting, the ohio state university analysis says 19,000 of those voters would have cast their ballots for mitt romney but the rest would have gone to president obama. governor rick scott initially denied there were problems and refused to extend early voting hours. both hispanics and blacks were disproportionately deterred from voting. the german magazine mistakenly published an online obituary sunday for former president george h.w. bush just hours after a family spokesperson said the 88-year-old is recovering from his illness. the obituary wasn't flattering describing the former president as, quote, a colorless politician. it was taken down after a few minutes. today the legendary "newsweek" magazine will publish its last edition and playoff to a digital only format in the new year.

new economics of the media industry made it a money loser. gallup has just released its annual most admired list. for the 11th year in a row hillary clinton is the most admired woman. for the fifth consecutive year president obama is the most admired man. if you read only one thing this morning, in honor of new year's eve, my must read is best movies of 2012. for those of you in particular maybe who don't want to fight the crowds tonight maybe your perfect evening is pop the bubbly in front of the dvd player. this list by the way is from rotten tomatoes. it is the movies that got the top scores from viewers. i honestly hadn't even heard of the top seven so obviously i need some snowy weekends in front of my own dvr. the must read is up on our facebook page at facebook/jansing co. it's just f. because sleep is a beautiful thing™. ♪ zzzquil™. the non-habit forming sleep-aid from the makers of nyquil®.

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we are 30 minutes away now from the senate coming back and what is it going to take to get congress to compromise and get a deal done on the fiscal cliff? from washington to all around the country americans are fed

up. >> this whole thing is a national embarrassment, an embarrassment to the president, an embarrassment to both sides of the aisle and both the house and the senate. >> the election is over. you got your seats. you're re-elected. congratulations. you have a job. now work and do it. >> fiscally irresponsible decision trying to please everyone and you please no one at all. >> they've got to work together. >> they appear to be very self-centered. >> joining me now retired admiral and former democratic congressman joe sestak of pennsylvania and msnbc contributor and former bush/cheney senior adviser robert trainum. kelly o'donnell has just reported some of the latest information. we heard there was progress overnight and we understand vice president biden and republican leader mitch mcconnell exchanged phone calls until about midnight and their aides then continued to work and we've been reporting the various areas of progress including the fact that there seems to be agreement on a new income threshold of $450,000 a year. we know yesterday that the

republicans backed off on social security but sequestration is the sticking point. of course democrats say they are arguing that the new revenue generated by tax increases, especially if reduced from the democrats' earlier target, should be used to cover the costs of delaying those automatic spending cuts by two years. what are the chances the two sides are going to come together on this? >> well, first of all let's back up for a second and applaud vice president biden and leader mcconnell for working together? a bipartisan fashion. it seems like they clearly have a relationship together. they've been in the senate for 25 years. so clearly there is a level of trust there that i assume leader mcconnell does not have what senator reid does unfortunately. where is the compromise here is the question. it seems republicans are willing to give up -- >> although it seemed to come out of nowhere if you talk to the democrats they'll say where did that come from?

>> i'll tell you exactly. it came from the president. the president said on david gregory's show "meet the press" yesterday i'm willing to compromise and quoting directly here, i'm willing to compromise on chain cpi. i know a lot of folks in my own party, the president speaking here, may be upset with that but i am open to that. that came directly from the president. >> as part of a larger deal, though, as part of a grand bargain. we're not talking a grand bargain here. all we're trying to do, admiral sestak, is get something done. >> i think you are absolutely right. the correct tone is robert's, though, that we do need a bipartisan compromise even on this first step. this is not the grand bargain. >> everyone knows that. do you hear those people, those average americans just there? the senator called it a national embarrassment. is there a point at which public pressure or just sheer embarrassment is going to get something moving? >> you're absolutely right. this is an embarrassment.

the fact that we don't have the political courage in washington, d.c. to generate the political will to do what is right, i believe the next step is this. we're trying to take the $700 billion down to less than $200 billion. they've come to an agreement on the threshold you well mentioned of $450,000. those who earn above it will not have their bush tax cuts extended. however, i think then the democrats can compromise that instead of $100 billion of spending cuts that we're going to have that were done in a dumb way in the sequestration, just a hair cut against everything evenly that they can find about a $50 billion out of that to have spending reductions. then you have the payroll tax holiday. that that doesn't get extended. that gives you roughly $200 billion and that is exactly the scaling we have to take of a fiscal cliff. it is a gradual bunny slope so the economy can grow close to 3% this year. they are so very close with the two or three last pieces and then you go to the grand bargain where you can, robert, bring

back in the chained cpi which the president had recommended. that is where you get the $3 trillion of debt reduction to have sustainable debt-to-gdp ratio. >> we're not going to get anything settled -- let me read this. polls consistently show strong public support for raising taxes on the mg airs and billionaires obama kept talking about and most americans are more inclined to blame congressional regimes. so do democrats have the advantage right now? >> he does. we've had this national conversation after the past 14 months. to the president's credit he has been very clear and transparent about raising taxes on individuals making a certain income level. the question then becomes, where do the republicans fit into this? i'll remind you and the audience the republicans got re-elected to the majority. they are listening to their constituency as well. the real question is where can we meet in the middle where democrats have a little pain and democrats have a little pain and in the process you have a great compromise and true

bipartisanship? >> and we were just talking about this, admiral, with congresswoman lee. i mean, there is this idea that we have just enough that maybe will get done today or tomorrow or in the next week or so, but essentially this is kicking the can down the road. there are still these big issues we have to be dealt with. there is still the debt ceiling that has to be dealt with. the perception is going to be out there that congress is a mess. >> ideally you would have wanted weeks ago when speaker boehner and president obama came so very close to that grand bargain that the fiscal cliff, which is part of that $700 billion being pulled out of the economy would have been part of that overall agreement. it's not. this is not kicking the can down the road if and only if they first get the $200 billion, that is all the debt reduction we can afford this coming year and then do the grand bargain and that doesn't have to be completed until near the end of february. that's when we approach the real debt ceiling with the treasury department no longer moving around money.

this has to be a one, two step process. if we do not get to the second step, however, you're spot on. this means that our policy makers don't have the political will to do what's right and that is where all credit agencies will downgrade u.s. treasury bonds and that begins the ex-orable slide down to a very sluggish economy and maybe in the longer term losing our superstar economic status. >> not to mention all this time we'll be spending on this as time that is going to be taken away from other pressing things that need to get done by the congress in this new session. thank you, admiral and robert. happy new year to you both. >> same to you. >> also making news venezuelan president chavez is said to be in delicate condition after cancer surgery. he has not been heard from since december 11th when he had a fourth surgery. the question whether he will be at his swearing in on january 10th is touching off a possible

constitutional crisis in that country. the body of the newtown shooter has been claimed for burial. a spokesman for adam lanza's father says peter claimed the body. there is no word on when that happened or if there will be a funeral. meantime for 200 sandy hook elementary school students, parents, and faculty a touching and welcomed diversion. they were the honored guests of the new york giants at yesterday's game in new jersey. the giants and eagles players high fived the kids as they ran on to the field and then the group circled for the national anthem. take this live look at times square in new york city. partiers are packing into the streets for tonight's ball drop although it is supposed to be 36, cold brkts ten degrees less than last year. organizers did test the ball yesterday. it weighs almost 12,000 pounds and it is covered with thousands of waterford crystal triangles. i know you've just been dying for this. rapper kanye west and his girlfriend kim kardashian are expecting a baby. a clearly proud papa to be announced the news last night during a concert in atlantic

city. it's believed kim is about 12 weeks pregnant. she married nba player chris humphries in august of 2011. that divorce is not yet final. wall street anxiously watching the fiscal cliff finale along with the rest of us. cnbc's mary thompson is live at the new york stock exchange with what's moving your money. tough week for stocks last week, mary. what are investors looking for today? >> it looks like a slightly more optimistic tone in the markets this morning, chris. the major averages higher across the board as the number of headlines suggest that progress is being made on perhaps a band-aid or smaller deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. that is giving investors some hope today after what you mentioned was a very difficult week last week. we had five straight sessions of losses for the major indices. as basically the realization started to grow we aren't going to reach any kind of grand bargain. i think if you looked back about two months ago investors were more optimistic this would indeed happen. again as we moved toward that deadline right now investors are hoping at least for a small deal.

so that is why we're seeing some strength in the markets today. interesting to note, though, i know you were talking about sequestration with your earlier guests. the defense talks are lower today on concerns about of course the automatic spending cuts which would have a big impact on the defense industry. >> that would be a surprise. cnbc's mary thompson, thank you. >> sure. >> everyone has a pet peeve when it comes to the english language. a michigan university is out with its annual list of words that people want banned. here are just a few. yolo, short for you only live once. trending. spoiler alert. double down. a lot of people think, boy. they were sick of that in politics. speaking of politics the phrase most people want banished from our vocabulary? yes. fiscal cliff. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just served my mother-in-law your chicken noodle soup but she loved it so much... i told her it was homemade. everyone tells a little white lie now and then. but now she wants my recipe [ clears his throat ] [ softly ] she's right behind me isn't she?

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secretary of state hillary clinton is still in the new york hospital this morning being treated for a blood clot.

the state department says that clot was apparently caused by her recent concussion after a fall when she had a stomach virus. i'm joined by a hematologist with case hospital. good morning. >> good morning. >> thank you for being with us. two weeks ago we learned that secretary clinton had sustained a concussion after fainting because of dehydration she developed from a stomach virus. is it common for a concussion like that to lead to blood clot? what are the dangers? >> first of all, we don't have any information on secretary clinton's condition, so anything i'm about to say is about this disorder in general and not about madame secretary. you know, blood clots are common. they affect over 400,000 individuals in the united states annually. and there are certain situations that put us at higher risk. for example if we have an injury and we're put to bed for a

couple weeks and we're 20 years of age then we maybe have a 20% likelihood of developing a blood clot. if we're 60, it may be higher, approaching 60%. so the situations put us at higher risk for blood clots. >> what about if you've had it before? the new york daily news is reporting that back in 1998 she had a blood clot behind her left knee. is a recurrence common? >> like many illnesses blood clots are really the summation of risk factors. what i mean by that is you may inherit something. you may be put into a situation and they come together and show itself. there are certain inherited things that give us blood clots at a usually low risk. then if we're put in a situation such as put to bed rest that risk can increase. if you've had a previous clot you are at higher risk of

another clot when you are in a high risk situation. >> she is being treated with anticoagulants. that was in the statement, blood thinners. how successful is that type of treatment? how long typically would someone need to be on blood thinners? >> it depends on the situation. if it is truly situational then there may be a limited time, three to six months. if it is recurrent and an underlying risk factor that is serious it may be longer. six months to 12 months. if you've had previous blood clots then not infrequently patients are anticoag lated into perpetuity as a result of that. >> she is somebody who has had a remarkable but exhausting four years. she said she is exhausted. she has logged almost a million miles, more than any other secretary of state. could this be part of the problem, the fact that she is tired and has traveled so much?

a lot of people are talking about this in the context of her overall health and what it might mean for 2016. >> when you do airplane travel you're sedentary and we know that each of us are at slightly increased risk for blood clots being on a long plane flight. four hours is minimal time we should be moving around. in pressurized cabins we can become dehydrated. that could continue due to that. the secretary in doing her job did put herself in a situation from all the airline flights that could increase her risk. on the other hand more recently she had an injury and she was recovering from that injury and certainly she wasn't in an afrp in the last two or more weeks. therefore this could be related to appropriate treatment for her concussion. >> thank you so much. you folks are always great to come on. we appreciate it.

happy new year like wise. and to the clintons as well. >> today's tweet of the day comes from howard fineman. on new year's eve a prayer for hillary. who leave politics out of it is a great women's advocate, public servant, mom, and, yes, wife. look what mommy is having. mommy's having a french fry. yes she is, yes she is. [ bop ] [ male announcer ] could've had a v8. 100% vegetable juice, with three of your daily vegetable servings in every little bottle.

we are back on jansing & company and look at this. chaos during an ice rescue at a california lake started with a man sledding down a hill. he fell through a thin layer of ice and then one after the other rescuers fell through trying to save him. well, finally someone was able to throw a rope and brought everybody to shore and everyone we are told is okay. probably very cold but okay. and obviously we're also just about eight or nine minutes from the senate suppose lid coming back into session. we'll see what they have in terms of a fiscal cliff. we have much more as we track this countdown.

congressman steny hoyer, tom cole, steve israel all next. first a look at some people behind the scenes at msnbc. i hope you all have a very happy new year. >> happy holidays from "the daily rundown!" >> happy holidays. >> and have a very happy new year. >> happy holidays. >> happy holidays. >> happy new year from "andrea mitchell reports." >> merry christmas. >> merry christmas from "the cycle!"

>> happy holidays from the "alex witt" team. >> happy holidays from "up with chris hayes." >> happy holidays! >> merry christmas. happy holidays. >> happy holidays from msnbc. >> happy holidays. >> merry christmas. happy holidays.

>> happy holidays from the p.a.s. >> from all of us at msnbc, merry christmas and happy holidays. >> merry christmas. happy holidays. >> merry christmas. happy holidays, everybody.

>> hello, team. what a wonderful 2012. i'm looking forward to a fantastic 2013. happy new year.

happy new year. the question today. are you ready to go cliff diving? breaking news tops our agenda this hour. can congress avoid turning into a pumpkin at midnight? we're watching capitol hill where any moment the senate will reconvene for the first time this morning. they left last night at 7:30 p.m. trying to cobble a deal together before 2012 becomes 2013. here is where the negotiations stand right now. negotiations down to just two. senate minority leader mitch mcconnell and vice president joe biden. reports say the two are making significant progress this morning. mcconnell reached out to the veep yesterday when talks with senator reid went into a tail spin. the biden offer has this in it